NEWS

Whereas, The mission of the local Drug Endangered Children’s Taskforce has been to unite agencies such as first responders, law enforcement, child protective services, medical personnel, prosecution, and other agencies providing follow‐up care so that children exposed to drugs can be identified and receive appropriate intervention. Through local collaboration we hope to keep children safe and prevent the cycle of drug abuse. Full TextMOU Signing Invitation

A Texas grandfather was allegedly smuggling heroin, methamphetamine and other illegal drugs while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in a taxi cab with his 6-year-old grandson.

Antonio Fernandez, 57, had the drugs strapped to his waistband Thursday while crossing into Hidalgo, Texas, contends and affidavit filed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

After his arrest, Fernandez allegedly claimed that he was drug addict and had just gone to the border city of Reynosa, Mexico to buy enough drugs for personal use, but that when he was there he was accosted by three armed men who told him if he did not smuggle the drugs from Mexico all the way to Houston, his family would be harmed.

The boy was given to Child Protective Services, as no family members could immediately be located, according to CBP.

The bruises covering the toddler’s body had allegedly come at the hands of an amateur boxer.

In flashes of rage, the 28-year-old had more than once thrown Dakoda Scott’s small frame, according to court documents. He left marks, welts and a black eye on the 23-month-old. He had spanked the child with a wood fork and once squeezed Dakoda, digging his fingers into his armpits, shook the boy and then threw him sideways onto a toy.

The man, Marco Anthony Gutierrez, was dating the boy’s mom, Shara Christine Scott, a 24-year-old day care worker who knew of his abuse and called no attention to it, according to court records.

A Plano man who shot and seriously wounded his pregnant wife and two friends during an alcohol-fueled rampage has been sentenced to two life terms in prison.

Carlos Mario Delarosa, 37, was arrested the day of the April 2009 shooting after Plano officers rescued him from his burning sport utility vehicle following a high-speed chase.

On the night of the shooting, Delarosa and his wife, Serena, had gone out drinking at a comedy club with her brother Robert Enriquez and his girlfriend Stacy Guardado, authorities said. The group returned to the Delarosa home, where Carlos Delarosa argued with his wife over whether one of their children’s friends could spend the night.

Serena Delarosa, who was seven months pregnant, locked her husband out, but he managed to get back inside and load a handgun. He shot his wife in the head, then shot Guardado in the face and Enriquez in the thigh, police said. He threatened to shoot some of the children at the house and then fled.

Officers found the gun used in the shooting in the wreckage. When they searched the Delarosa home, they found a kilogram of cocaine inside a toolbox in the garage.

A Houston man who told police he drank 18 beers and used marijuana and cocaine while watching his one-month old daughter has been charged with capital murder in the girl’s death.

Milton Rolando Paz, 25, is accused of hitting Miriam Paz with his hands, an unknown object then “slamming” her against a wall, according to the charging document.

Paz told police he tried to feed the child, who did not want to eat, so he threw her on the bed, according to court records. He said the girl, who was born Jan. 11, landed on the bed, then struck her head on the wall.

Police at the hospital observed bruising on the child’s chest and face and bite marks on both cheeks.

On Saturday, 16-month-old Jabraylon Bables died from the massive injuries and the onset of infections he had suffered 36 days earlier after authorities say his mother’s boyfriend dropped him into a pot of boiling water.

Authorities say the burns that covered Jabraylon’s legs, feet, hand and buttocks did not match Simmons’ account. He told police that he accidentally dropped hot water on the toddler.

Carlnelus Delaney Simmons, a convicted murderer, remains in the Dallas County Jail accused of first-degree felony injury to a child. Simmons, 37, is also being held on two felony drug delivery charges.

Jabraylon’s brother, who was also in the house at the time, was not injured and has been placed in foster care. In the kitchen cabinet, police found eight plastic baggies of cocaine. Police also found 95 vials of PCP in the refrigerator.

A drunken driving suspect was arrested Sunday evening after she crashed into a concrete pillar Sunday evening in South Dallas, injuring four of her five children in the vehicle, police say.

The crash happened around 6 p.m. as the 1999 Chevrolet Suburban sped north on César Chávez Boulevard near Grand Avenue, police said. Police said there were five children, ages 3 to 11, in the back of the SUV and a man in the front passenger seat.

Four of the children were taken to Children’s Medical Center Dallas; two were in critical condition and two were in serious condition Sunday night.

Son says man who abandoned injured kids at Pleasant Grove wreck had been drinking heavily

A father fled the scene of an overnight crash in Pleasant Grove, leaving his 5-year-old daughter bleeding in the street and his 6-year-old son injured in the vehicle, police said.

The 5-year-old, Mia, who was in a child seat but wasn’t strapped in, was ejected out the back window, and 6-year-old Thomas suffered severe head trauma.

Two other children were in the vehicle: an 11-month-old girl, Emma, and a 9-year-old boy, Miguel Jr., who was unharmed. Miguel Jr., who flagged down police, told officers that his father had been drinking heavily.

Torres’ Texas criminal record includes convictions for drug possession, theft and burglary.

Forney couple accused of intentionally exposing toddler to marijuana

A Forney couple was arrested on child endangerment charges this week after police determined that their toddler passed out from marijuana intoxication.

Paramedics called to the couple’s home Aug. 25 found the 2-year-old unresponsive and transported the child to Children’s Medical Center Dallas.

Doctors there found that the level of toxicity in the child’s system was too high to be caused by “passive inhalation,” or secondary smoke. That led sheriff’s investigators to believe that the child was intentionally exposed to marijuana, and they arrested the couple.

A Fort Worth mother who has a history with Child Protective Services was behind bars and her infant daughter was in critical condition Wednesday, officials said, after she and the baby’s father took the child to a Houston hospital with a fractured skull and bleeding brain.

Lazar said doctors discovered the baby had two skull fractures, rib fractures, scratches on her neck and hypoxia, a condition indicating that she had been deprived of oxygen. The couple could not explain Daysia’s injuries but admitted she had been in their care, Lazar said. Doctors estimate the baby’s injuries to be 10 to 14 days old.

Lawrence has had a history with CPS since 2008, when the agency took protective custody of her first child.

According to court records, Johnson has served time for burglary and cocaine possession. There’s a warrant out for Lawrence’s arrest in Tarrant County after she failed to show up at a court appearance on a criminal mischief charge.

Sheriff’s officials: Shooting death in Fabens drug-related

A 26-year-old Fabens man was shot to death in his home Tuesday night, deputies said.

Deputies found Alejandro Castro Jr. dead in the 400 block of Northwest I Avenue, Fabens, Texas, about 10 p.m., deputies said. According to a sheriff’s report, Castro was shot multiple times, though it was not clear where he was wounded.

Castro’s common-law wife and 4-year-old son were at the home when the shots were fired, sheriff’s officials said. Sheriff’s spokesman Jesse Tovar said the homicide is drug-related.

Girl says family forced her into prostitution

HOUSTON — A 14-year-old girl suspected of prostitution told police her mother and grandmother, both convicted prostitutes, forced her to sell her body to pay their living expenses, prosecutors said on Thursday.

Alicia Melchor, 33, and Elizabeth Buford, 55, were arrested Tuesday on charges of compelling prostitution after the girl led police to a motel room after they picked her up on Telephone Road, prosecutors said.

The girl’s mother and grandmother each have several convictions for prostitution during the past 20 years.

Buford also was charged with possession of a small amount of heroin.

Police: Man molested girl in car while youngster’s mom was driving

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — Police arrested a Harlingen man Sunday on suspicion of molesting a 4-year-old girl in the back seat of a car while the girl’s mother was driving.

The mother of the 4-year-old had been driving down Padre Boulevard on Sunday after a day at the beach with her daughter and several friends, Island Police Chief Randy Smith said. The woman called police after she allegedly saw Danks fondling her daughter in the back seat of her car.

Smith said Danks was intoxicated at the time of the incident.

Father charged in east Houston beating death of son

HOUSTON – Police charged 34-year-old Alex McGowen Duncan with murder Sunday, accusing him of beating his 6-year-old to death because the boy would not fall asleep.

Duncan shared the one-room efficiency apartment with his girlfriend, 30-year-old Tammyra Sampson, and her 11-year-old daughter. Houston Police Department Homicide Division detective Sgt. Brian Harris said the beating continued until 3 a.m. with Sampson and her daughter witnessing the entire event.

Initially, Duncan, who has a history of drug charges dating to 1995, told police that the bruising was from attempting to revive the child from the seizure by slapping him and giving him chest thrusts.

Duncan is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday. Sampson, who has a criminal history and history with Child Protective Services, has also been charged with injury to a child causing serious bodily injury by omission.

GRAPEVINE – A Fort Worth man was in custody Monday on charges that he violently shook his girlfriend’s 5-year-old son on the side of a Grapevine highway and then pushed him into a lane of traffic.

Before Grapevine police arrived, the 22-year-old man is accused of punching his girlfriend and threatening to kill her in front of the boy.

Motorists told police that the man shook the boy violently, but the youngster managed to escape him. The man is then accused of pushing the boy into a lane of traffic. At about the same time, a vehicle crashed into the girlfriend’s car which was in the middle of the highway, according to police reports. Authorities believe that the man had been drinking.

Grapevine man put baby’s mouth on smoking bong

A 20-year-old Grapevine man was in jail Tuesday after police say he took a few puffs from a bong and then placed his 13-month-old son’s mouth on it.

A witness told police that the man was sitting on his bed with his son on his lap. At some point, the man took a few puffs from the bong and then placed his son’s mouth on it, according to what the witness told police. The man also let his son play with a bowl of marijuana, police said.

The man, Julio Cesar Garcia, was in the Grapevine Jail on suspicion of endangering a child, a state jail felony, and possession of marijuana. The toddler’s mother, Brenda Duran, 19, also was behind bars on a charge that she was in the room and didn’t do anything to stop the crime, Grapevine police said Tuesday.

Dallas man smoked marijuana in car as child sat strapped in seat

DALLAS — A Dallas man faces charges he smoked marijuana in his car while his 3-year-old son was strapped in a car seat in the back, according to police documents.

About 7:30 p.m., the officers “observed a thick cloud of white smoke inside the passenger compartment of the vehicle” and could smell marijuana, the documents said.

Police also found marijuana in a baggie inside Murillo’s car. He was arrested on charges of child endangerment and marijuana possession.

1 killed, 1 hurt in home invasion; 2 children present

HOUSTON (KTRK) — Deputies say four to five men opened fire on a family at a home on Sabine Brook Way late Sunday night, killing a mother, and wounding her mother-in-law.

Detectives said the motive appears to be robbery, but they’re not allowed to elaborate much more beyond that. They are telling us that this may not be a random crime.

Late Sunday night, deputies say four or five gunmen kicked in the front door and opened fire on the two women. “The house was ransacked,” Harris County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Ben Beall said.

Detectives said two children, ages 2 and 5, also were sleeping upstairs.

Man killed inside San Juan home; 2 children present

SAN JUAN — Several hitmen killed a 21-year-old man in front of his wife and young son during an apparent drug-related home invasion Wednesday, police said.

At least three men barged into the home of Roberto “Bobby” Hinojosa, 21, about 1 a.m., looking for several pounds of marijuana police later found inside.

Hinojosa, 21, was in bed with his wife at the time, while their 3-year-old son was watching television in another room, said Lalo Hinojosa, the victim’s 63-year-old father.

At least one of the gunshots appeared to have gone through the bedroom wall and through the front garage door.

SAN ANTONIO — A toddler is found alone wandering a San Antonio street late Wednesday night. Police say the three-year-old and his one-year-old brother were left alone at a house while their babysitter went for a beer run.

Police arrived and tracked down the man who was supposed to be babysitting the two boys. Officers say he was drunk and belligerent. They arrested and charged him with public intoxication.

Police tell News 4 WOAI they also tried charging the man with endangering a child. However, a judge rejected the charge, claiming there was no proof the man was responsible for the children.

Video of Lori Moriarty, Senior Vice President of the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children on CBS news detailing her adoption of two drug endangered children.